Down the Darkest Road

by Kylie Brant

  “The women—that was all him. I never laid a hand on them. You ask that one from the house—she’ll tell you the same.”

  “Has he disappeared before? Does he have another place to go?”

  “If he does, he’s never talked about it. Mostly if he’s gone all night, he’s with a whore.” He stopped, seemed to think for a moment. “I was a victim, too, you know. I wasn’t free to come and go. I was like a prisoner.”

  Her mouth twisted. “All those people who ID’d you walking around freely in Boone and Blowing Rock must have missed your leash and collar.”

  “I was scared,” he insisted. “Scared for my life.”

  “Uh-huh.” By tomorrow, it would occur to him to call an attorney, and once he did, that story would probably become their bible. Another thought occurred then. He’d undoubtedly assisted in disposing of the bodies of the other women. And his help leading law enforcement to the dump sites would carve a significant amount of time off his eventual sentence.

  The realization burned, but it wasn’t her main concern at the moment. “You’ve worked with Forrester for a long time. Helped him with his drug operation in Hope Mills. Don’t bother lying about that,” she added when he opened his mouth to object. “We have eyewitnesses who put you, Forrester, Weber, and Tillis in Hanson Woods at the end of Farley Road the night of August 2, 2013. There was a woman present as well.” At least, according to Tillis. She watched Loomer carefully. Saw the verification she was looking for in his expression. “Who was she?”

  He shrugged, then winced at the action. “I don’t know; I didn’t see. Forrester had her in the tent. Talked about teaching her a lesson. I swear, I never saw her face. He marched her down there with a bag over her head and put her in a tent while we was . . .”

  “Making meth.”

  “Then them kids came by and spooked us. Forrester chased ’em off, and when he came back, he said we had to leave.”

  “Why was he in such a hurry?” Cady asked.

  “Maybe he figured the kids would tell their parents about seeing us and they’d call the cops. I don’t know.”

  Or maybe, Cady thought, he’d guessed the surviving boy would do exactly that. But Dylan had been too traumatized to do more than hide.

  Loomer was still talking. “After he came back from chasing them kids, he figured out the woman had run off while he was gone. He was super pissed at us, and things got heated. We all went our separate ways. He called me the next day and said how we needed to lie low for a while. Said he had another idea how just him and me could make some money . . .” He stopped abruptly.

  Her lips curved. The man had just admitted going with Forrester freely.

  As if realizing it, Loomer abruptly shifted focus. “You know, I fed those women sometimes. Gave them water. Forrester usually forgot.”

  “You didn’t help them escape, though, did you?”

  “Like I said, I was as much a captive as them. Forrester does this mind-control thing.”

  When forensics got done with the computer they’d seized from the house the men had rented, Cady was certain they’d discover financials that would show Loomer had been well paid for his “captivity.”

  Her cell vibrated, and she pulled it from her pocket. Seeing the local sheriff’s office on the screen, she went to the hallway to answer it. “Maddix.”

  “Marshal Maddix, it’s Buncombe County deputy Brent Haskell.” The deputy was talking fast. “I went out to Tina Bandy’s place a half an hour ago and found no one home.”

  Concern flickered. “Maybe they were asleep?”

  “That’s what I thought. I had to respond to another call, but I was going to make a return trip and see if I could rouse someone. But Bandy just called. Says she sent Dylan somewhere safe because she heard Forrester was in town asking about them.”

  She went still. “Was he ID’d?”

  “A waitress at Yay-hoos described him well enough to convince her. Someone apparently gave him her address. I’m on my way back to the house to meet Tina there. She wants to get some things before she takes off.”

  “Safest place for her and the family is at your office while we check this out.”

  “I’ll try to convince her of that. But sounds like the boy is already gone. She won’t say where.”

  Cady swore mentally. The hardest people to protect were those who refused to follow directions. “Do what you can. If she insists on leaving, make sure you have a number and address for them. How long ago was the sighting?”

  “Couple of hours, maybe.”

  “We’ll check it out. Keep me posted.”

  Hanging up, she went to join the others. “Dylan’s gone.” Cady summarized the deputy’s message for Agent Rebedeau.

  “What?” The agent rose from her seat. “Where is he?”

  “Tina Bandy seems to be the only one who knows, and it sounds like she’s preparing to run.” Cady shifted her gaze to encompass the others. “Bandy’s spooked. Forrester has been sighted here in Asheville.”

  Urgency churned through her as they turned as one and headed for the exit. After all these years, it seemed as though the man might have finally caught up with his quarry.

  Chapter 68

  Dammit all to hell, the place was empty.

  Bruce Forrester stormed back to the kitchen, a hot flare of temper burning through him. Maybe the idiot in the bar had sent him to the wrong house. He considered that for a minute. But there were female belongings in one of the bedrooms and two beds in the other with clothes that could belong to male teens. Which didn’t help, because they were still gone.

  He drew in a deep breath. Ordered himself to think. Maybe Bandy had just taken the kids somewhere. They could be coming back. And until they did, he could search the dump for the property stolen from him five years ago.

  Just another reason they’d all die a slow, painful death.

  He retraced his steps to her bedroom. Most logical place to start. He began pulling out the nightstand drawers, rifling through them. Checking the back, sides, and bottom for something taped there. After he was done, the dresser got the same treatment. Then he turned his attention to the bed. Got down on his knees to check under the mattress.

  He froze when a glare of light flashed around the edges of the front window’s shade. Bruce got up and crossed to it, hooking the shade with a finger to peer out. A broad smile crossed his face as he watched the car approach the house. His smile vanished in the next moment when a sheriff’s SUV pulled in after the vehicle.

  Fuck! He looked around quickly. His entrance into the house had been made simple enough when he’d found the screen missing from the side window in here. Just a matter of finding a rock behind the garage where he’d parked his car. He’d smashed the glass, reached inside the hole, and unlocked it. Simple.

  You’d think Tina would be a bit more careful about her security.

  The sound of the key in the kitchen door lock galvanized him into action. He ran silently to the window he’d accessed and raised it again. Then he climbed out of it and crouched on the outdoor sill, bracing himself with his hands on either side of the frame. The shade settled back into place.

  Moments later, he heard a voice. “Thanks for the walk-through. You can wait outside. I just need to gather up a few things.”

  There were some words Bruce couldn’t make out. Then, “I said wait outside! I gotta pack some woman products, and I don’t need you watching, okay?”

  He waited until he heard a car door slam. Hopefully it was the deputy. Then, carefully, he slipped back inside the room. A light was on in the second bedroom. He went to the doorway and allowed the satisfaction of the moment to wash over him before saying, “Hello, Tina.”

  Chapter 69

  “Where are we going? A motel?” Dylan’s voice was hopeful. There was no need to go far if they were just going to lie low for a little while. And Mom could meet them there.

  “Think I got money for that?” Teeter answered. “Most of the cash your mom left is go
ne already.”

  Dylan watched the man carefully. He was jittery but not out of control like he’d been twice before when he’d manhandled Dylan. Maybe this was the effect of the muscle relaxants.

  The pills he’d fed the man could cause him to fall asleep at the wheel, so Dylan was keeping his eyes open. Not that it was hard, with the news about Forrester finding them. Panic skittered inside his chest. Welcome back to the real world, he thought bitterly. But if his mom had called in the SBI, they should be on Forrester fast. The thought did little to calm him.

  Dylan had tried to bring his backpack, with his laptop and SBI cell in it. Teeter had made him leave it. All he had was a toothbrush and a change of clothes. Hopefully that meant they wouldn’t be gone long.

  A thought struck him then, and he went still. Grace. She’d have texted if she got home safely, but he hadn’t messaged back the way he said he would. And he didn’t dare let T know he had a phone with him, because he had a feeling it would take very little to push the man completely over the edge.

  “What about the cat?” he asked. Not that he gave a shit, but the ride was giving him plenty of time for doubts to crowd in. How did he know his mom had actually called T? What she’d really told him?

  “It’s got plenty of food and water for a couple of days,” T answered. “It’ll be fine.”

  “Is Mom going to meet us where we go?”

  “I don’t know. Probably. She’ll call when she’s on her way.”

  He didn’t find the news as comforting as he should. He wished they were all together now, going to the same place. And what about Colton? Had his mom warned him too? Every one of them was in danger. And all because of Dylan.

  All of a sudden, the best night of his life seemed like a distant memory.

  Chapter 70

  “Where’s the key?”

  Forrester stalked toward Tina, and it was all she could do to not piss herself. She inched backward until she was pressed against Dylan’s bedroom wall. Her gun was in her purse in the kitchen. Her only chance was to race by him and into the other room. An instant later, he was in front of her, wrapping one hand around her neck. Squeezing.

  “Where. Is. The. Key?”

  Her fingers came up to claw at his hand. One of her knees shot upward and nearly caught him in the jewels. He let her go, and she sagged against the wall. His backhanded slap snapped her head to the side. “Try that again and you die right here. I’ve waited five fucking years. Where is it?”

  “I don’t know.” Seeing his fist curl, she hurried on. “It was in a piggy bank sitting right on that dresser last time I was home. Now the bank is gone. I don’t know who took it.”

  “Probably one of your kids. Where are they?”

  In a distant part of her brain, she realized he didn’t know Colton didn’t live with her anymore. At least he was safe for now. “I don’t know. The law was out here earlier tonight, checking on Dylan. They called me when they found him gone.” She was lying for all she was worth now. “I was looking around to see what’s missing. He might have just snuck out to see friends or something.”

  “Does he have a phone?”

  “Yeah.” She was safe as long as Forrester thought she could get in touch with her son. Tina was going on instinct, just like she had been by keeping that damn key all these years. She didn’t have a plan except to stay alive. She knew what this man was capable of.

  She was marked for death, unless she could get that gun from the kitchen.

  “Then let’s go before the cop out there comes back.” He grabbed her by the nape and marched her out of the bedroom, snapping off the light behind them. “Here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to grab some garbage bags from the kitchen. Fill them with whatever shit you can find, and then you’re going out, opening the trunk and throwing them in. And then . . .” The fingers tightened on her neck painfully. “You’ll back the car around the corner of the house like you need to make a three-point turn to drive out again. I’ll leave through the kitchen window and get in the back. You’ll be in my sight the entire time. If I shoot, I won’t miss.” His hand dropped from her nape, and a moment later a gun barrel pressed there. “You alert the cop out there, and you’ll be dead. Understand?”

  Sweat rolled down her face, and she nodded rapidly. She’d cheated death before. She could do it again. But she had to stay alive long enough to make a plan.

  He shut off the kitchen light and let go of her. Her legs wobbly, she fetched the trash bags and filled them with stuff in the cupboards. When she turned around, an anguished cry nearly escaped her.

  Forrester had her purse tucked under one arm.

  “Let’s go.”

  Tina’s brain shut down. She moved like an automaton. She went out the kitchen door, acutely aware of the weapon trained on her. Tina threw the bags into the trunk and drove around the corner of the house. For one crazy moment, she thought about revving the engine and running him over when he appeared. But he was already there somehow. The back car door opened and closed. “Let’s go. Just remember I have a gun pointed at your spine. And the car seat ain’t gonna stop a bullet.”

  She drove down the lane toward the deputy’s vehicle, raising a shoulder to wipe her face on her jacket. Her whole body was trembling like she had palsy. She buzzed the window down when the deputy got out of his vehicle and approached her. “I already called Agent Rebedeau. She told me where to go. I’m gonna collect Dylan and wait where she said.”

  “I’ll escort you.”

  She could almost hear the trigger being cocked in the back seat. “The fuck you will! The location is on a need-to-know basis, Rebedeau said. If she wants to give you that information, she’ll tell you. Now back up. I don’t want to be here if Forrester comes ’round.”

  “Wait here while I call Davis.”

  Her fingers clenched on the wheel as the deputy turned away.

  “Move!” The voice came from the back seat.

  “He’s blocking the drive!” she hissed.

  “Go around him, fuckhead!”

  Tina cranked the steering wheel and stomped on the accelerator. The car shot forward, bumping over the grass until she’d cleared the SUV before swerving back to the lane.

  “Turn left out of the drive.”

  She did as Forrester told her. And tried not to think that with every instruction she followed, she was one step closer to her death.

  Chapter 71

  The bartender at Yay-hoos identified Forrester from a picture and so did a very intoxicated Cory Bartelson. But it was the information from Sheila Vickers, the waitress, that Cady was most interested in.

  “I was close enough to hear him talking about Tina Bandy, and her and me work together. So my ears perked up, y’know?”

  “What did you hear?” she asked.

  “That dumb-ass”—she jerked a thumb at Bartelson, who was being questioned by Miguel—“telling the guy he could draw him a map to her house. A stranger,” she said with disgust. “Do you arrest people for general stupidity?”

  “There aren’t enough jail cells in the country.”

  Sheila flashed a smile at Cady’s answer. “Anyway, I called Tina to let her know. Because I’d want to know if a dumb-ass gave out my personal information.”

  “You did the right thing. Is there anything else you noticed?”

  “Damn right. When he left, I walked to the door, like I was stepping out to get some air for a minute? I saw him get into his car. A black Malibu. Recognized the make because my boyfriend has the same.”

  Excitement flickering, Cady thanked her and headed to where the agents waited at the entrance with Ryder. Her cell rang on the way. She took it out of her pocket. Reading it was the Buncombe County sheriff’s office, she answered, “Deputy Haskell?”

  “Tina Bandy just left the property like a bat out of hell. And I can’t be certain Forrester wasn’t in the car with her.”

  Her stomach nose-dived. “Tell me everything.” She listened as he described the woman
’s suspicious behavior. How he went back through the house and found the kitchen window open. The glass smashed out of a window in Tina’s bedroom. Because she heard the self-castigation in his voice, she kept her tone expressionless. “Any chance you could have missed the kitchen window when you were in there with her?”

  “Not a chance. Just some frilly curtains in front of it. The bedroom . . . that one was covered with a shade, and I didn’t check behind it. He could have gone back out of it and reentered when I left the house.”

  “But you think Forrester was in the car with Bandy when she left?” The rest of the team stilled when they heard her words.

  “I think it’s a possibility.”

  “Okay. She was driving her car?”

  “Yes. A brown Toyota Corolla. Not sure of the year but an older one.”

  “Put a BOLO out on it. Statewide. Get the plate number from DMV.”

  “I’m on it.”

  Disconnecting, she gestured toward the door, and the team members followed her out of the bar.

  “We can call the Watauga County sheriff’s office.” Rebedeau took off her glasses. Rubbed her eyes. “Have them put a surveillance team on the house outside Boone just in case.”

  If Forrester did have Tina Bandy, Cady doubted he’d head home. But they should cover all their bases. “Do that.” Cady pulled out her phone again and scrolled through her emails. “No pings on any of the three numbers we have for Forrester. If he uses one of those cells to communicate with Loomer, he didn’t check in with him today.” Loomer’s cell had been confiscated at the scene, but it would be days before the forensics analysis was done.

  “Forrester may not know about the bust at their rental,” Ryder said. “He’d think it was safe to take her there if so.”

  “If he discovers Dylan’s location, he’ll go after the boy,” Cady said with certainty.

  “Forrester isn’t above torturing Bandy to get that information,” Miguel put in.